Fall Break Relaxation

I posted on Thursday that Fall Break began at the end of that school day, and so I headed out to the barn as soon as school dismissed, eager to begin my time off with Abby. My daughter, Lisa, who teaches in a school close to the barn, joined me. We were both so ready to have a break of a few days!

The couple who had rented the blue barn and its pasture for the past four years moved to Chicago two months ago. Tim had put the herd in there to take down the pasture that had grown up in their absence. (I asked him if he were going to rent it out again, and he replied that he would to the "right boarder." I know the last folks were great boarders and took good care of their horses. They will be a hard act to follow!)

The horses had come to the fence as soon as our cars rolled up the lane, and everyone eagerly eyed the bag of carrots we had brought.

 The horses were also cautious - the top wire is hot.

Abby made me laugh as she carefully stretched her neck out to take my offering.

After the carrots were eaten, Lisa and I meandered over to the new barn so we could sit and chat.

It was such nice a day and we were happy to be free of responsibilities for a few days, so we did not want to head back to our homes.

There are benches on the porch of the new barn, and so we plopped down and just talked.

Lisa had brought her dog, Millie. Millie loves barn visits, although she does tend to look for smelly things to eat or roll in!

 Like us, she was enjoying that idyllic fall day; a good butt scratch made life even better!

 Millie is a rescue and was our Christmas present to Lisa four years ago. She had been found wandering in southern Indiana and taken to a kill shelter in Johnson County. Natalie's Second Chance, a shelter in our town, went down and rescued her. Eight months later, she made for the best Christmas gift ever! (At least according to Lisa.)

 That is one happy girl.

Kicking off Fall Break at the barn? Couldn't get any better.

Donkeys in an Unexpected Place

You just never know where you are going to find a member of the equine family. Craig and I are in Lynchburg, Virginia for my Fall Break visiting our daughter, Jessica, and her family. This morning we went on a trip to an apple orchard and there I got a surprise.

My family wanted to wander down the mountain and out into the pumpkin field, more than I am physically able to do, so I hung out near the goats, sitting on a park bench and enjoying the fresh air.

Suddenly, this little jenny ambled up - she'd been hidden in some brush down the hill.

 As you might guess, I perked up, stood up, and went over to say "hello." She was so sweet and very, very gentle.

 She enjoyed the attention, especially when I scratched her ears.

 Then, another surprise. This little guy came up to visit as well.

I hadn't seen him in that mountain pasture, either. (He reminds me very much of Hagen-Renaker's china donkey foal, Harry.)

About this time, Cambria came back with Craig, and, just like her Grammy, she made a beeline to see the donkeys.

 She gave the male soft rubs on his side...

 ... and rubbed his fuzzy ears. (Like the jenny, he really enjoyed that!)

I shared with her the legend of the donkey -  that the reason they have a cross-shaped mark on their withers and back is because a donkey carried Mary and Baby Jesus, and so Heavenly Father honored all donkeys in remembrance. (Another legend is that, if you are in the barn at midnight on Christmas Eve, the donkeys will kneel to honor the Christ Child. Lovely stories!)

 We spent about an hour at the orchard, and while the apples and cider were delicious, the best part (for me, anyway) was visiting with the donkeys.

Rotating Pastures

Fall Break began for me at 3:30 this afternoon! And since it was such a lovely fall day, I decided my schoolwork could wait and headed out to the barn. My daughter, Lisa, who is also a teacher starting break, joined me, and we had a lovely time visiting with the herd. (I'll do a post on that soon.)

Tim arrived about a half hour after us and told me he was going to rotate pastures. I asked him if he needed help, and he invited me to film the "rodeo" (the term he uses when he thinks they might get snorty.)

The horses had to snake around some stored round bales of hay to get from the east pasture and then through the paddock and out to the northeast pasture. Tim predicted that Sultanna might have trouble as she is not a very brave mare, and he was right. I was surprised, though, that Abby didn't come through with Diablo and the boys. (Sorry for the poor quality film at the end.)

But she and Snickerdoodle got through after a few tries, and then that left Sultanna, stranded behind and unwilling to go through the pass through. Tim went into the barn and grabbed a rope.

I cut the film off before we got her through the pass-through, but she eventually rejoined her herd.

 Reunited and rodeo over, I guess! And now on to that fresh grass.

Being Interviewed for a Korean Documentary

(This isn't horsey at all, but it was an exciting opportunity for me so I wanted to document it in my blog.)

A month or so ago I was asked to participate in a documentary being done by Busan eFM, a Korean radio station. The purpose was to raise awareness of the abilities of people with disabilities; in Korean culture, those people are not valued or considered able to join the work force. The two women making the documentary are looking at exploring what people with disabilities can do, and since the United States has many disabled people in the work force, they flew here to interview some of them.

Kathy Nimmer was one of the people with whom they wished to visit, and they asked her to invite a principal, a new teacher she was mentoring, and a colleague who knew her well and had worked with her. (Me.) Kathy is an amazing lady who won the Indiana Teacher of the Year in 2015 and was named one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year the following year. She is blind and uses a guide dog, and teaches English at the high school while mentoring new teachers part time.

I was thrilled at the opportunity, but also a bit nervous. Would I be able to understand them? Would they understand me? Would I represent Kathy and her community well?

Shin (on the left) and Jenna (right) were very fluent. They were friendly and obviously cared deeply about the topic they were documenting.

 They had sent ahead a list of questions and that helped me feel prepared and ready to go.

I spent about twenty minutes conversing with them and then Kathy was invited to join us.

 I had also brought a necklace Kathy had made me to show them. They were amazed that she could make something so intricate, keeping the color patterns intact at the same time. (I find it pretty amazing, too. She made this necklace for me to wear to the YWCA Salute to Women when I won the Woman of Distinction award in March of this year. Go here to read about that.)

Shin, Nacho, Kathy, Jenna, and me.

The ladies brought me a gift to thank me for my participation in their documentary.

 It was wrapped in pretty paper. They also gave me their cards with contact information.

Inside that package was a beautiful Korean bookmark!

The documentary in the Korean language is scheduled to be broadcast in November, while the English one is to be aired in December. Both Shin and Jenna assured us that they will send us a link to the recording so that we can hear it. 

It was a pretty exciting opportunity to get to meet with these women and talk about a dear friend while advocating for people with disabilities. Certainly not your usual Monday, that's for sure!

Great Lakes Congress - Second Post

Despite the times when things got very hectic for me as I rushed from ring to ring to put models in a class or to retrieve them after judging, I was able to get some pictures of my winners. Windsong Sherif, as he usually does, was my big winner of the day. I hadn't brought him out to a show for a while, but decided to bring him along this time. I was glad I did.

The very first class in the China/Resin show was Arabian foals, and he won that.

Then, after all the foal classes had been pinned, first and second place winners were called back to determine the foal champion.

It was Sherif! So off to the photo booth we went.

And finally, after all the china and resin classes had been held, division champions were called back to determine the Grand Champion China/Resin model.

My little guy was Overall Reserve Grand Champion of the show! Not bad for a piece I found in 1995 at an auction in tiny Fairbury, Illinois! (I paid $4 for him.)

My Adelaide, who I bought in 1974, took second in Donkeys/Exotics and is qualified for the North American Nationals. (NAN.)

Two Bits, who I found at an antique shop in LeRoy, Illinois in the 1990s, took second in Quarter Horses, qualifying him for NAN, too.

The lovely Lippizaner that Joanie Berkowitz sold me earlier this year is also qualified for NAN.

Zara, originally owned by Nancy Falzone and sold to me years ago, NANed by taking second in Arabians. (No photo from the show - I was running between rings!)

As did Lumberjack, my no muscle woodgrain Clydesdale who took a second place and thus will go to NAN.

And in the Unusual/Oddities class, my still-in-box Kipper took second. I doubt I will bring him out again, at least not in his box. It has become very fragile and the plastic has some cracks.

Such a fun day, and as I said in the previous post, what a well run show. It's my favorite of all.

Great Lakes Congress - First Post

Great Lakes Congress - what a show!!

I am now home from my favorite model horse show, Great Lakes Congress. I did well, but more importantly, I got to chat with a lot of long time friends, get acquainted with a few new ones, and catch up on hobby happenings. While the competition at GLC  is fierce, it is not cutthroat, and there is a lot of fun as a result.

It took me about an hour to get my models out and things in order for the start of the show.

Across the table was my long time friend, Sande Schneider, who is the queen of plastic collecting and is certainly the most knowledgable hobbyist on collectibility of Breyers and Hartlands.

A woman had made and donated a photo booth for winners, just like the ones you see at real horse shows! It was steadily busy all day long. (I used it, too.)

A view of my table again - I was right next to the OF Plastic ring, and people were setting up their entries for the very first class, British Drafters.

 Look at all those model horses! I'll bet there were 1,000 models at the show. At least!

The tables against the wall are vendors who set up to sell. On the far left is where GLC sets up the show management tables and the raffles.

Running into Tiffany Purdy was a highlight. Back in the early 1990s when I was holding my own live show, Lincoln Land Live, she contacted me and asked about model horse showing. She had never been to a show before, so I told her what to do and invited her to join us. She came (in her signature pink even way back then) and was a delightful addition to the day. She has since become a leading hobby figure and was judging OF China/Resins.

I love vintage china and plastic collecting, and this was a collectibility show for plastic, meaning that it was double judged - one ribbon for halter, another for collectibility.

 I brought my Hartland Victor clock to it's first show for the Clocks/Nightlights/Lamps class.

There were only four entries, but they were very, very good pieces! Sande won the class with her Davy Crockett lamp, the stretch Morgan lamp took second, I was third, and the Western Horse clock/nightlight took fourth.

The Western Horse/Nightlight. (I would have given this one first place and the stretch Morgan fourth.)

Sande's lamp had the advertisement with it.

Tiffany has her signature color pink; mine is orange. (Scroll up and look at my stable tablecloth.) I make documentation cards on orange cardstock. These two woodgrain drafters are in the first class, British Drafters, and are collectibility entries. (The one on the right took second!)

 My entries in the china Arabian china class. The Amir at the top is not mine.)

My woodgrain Two Bits took sixth (it says seventh, but it's actually sixth) in collectibility for Quarter Horses. It was a huge class!

 The flocky class is always fun. I brought my Proud Arabian Stallion and my Running Mare...

... plus my new Steha Circus Horse which took third.

My test color Black Stallion and my lovely alabaster Proud Arabian Mare. That's my Steel Dust behind her.

I have had these two alabaster semi-rearing stallions for years, but this was their first show. The rarer black-eyed version took fourth, and the red-eyed version got sixth in collectibility.

Even though I tried hard to keep taking photos as the show progressed, eventually I got so caught up in rushing from ring to ring that I fell behind. But I do have pictures of some of my winners, especially those that won NAN cards and qualified for the North American Nationals.

Stay tuned for another post with pictures of some of those winners!